Preacher: The Rev Dr Valori Mulvey Sherer, Rector
While talking with Jay’s family this week, I learned something new about Jay. He was a big fan of Firesign Theatre, a radio show from the 1970’s. So am I! I can see how this show fit well with Jay’s …unusual… sense of humor.
In one of the episodes, called, “I think we’re all bozos on this bus,” the main character, Clem, and his friend Barney, board a bus filled with circus clowns, also known as bozos, which takes them to “Future Fair” where they experience a hilarious take on the future. The journey is also filled with astute social commentary, and even has some religious overtones – some of which are irreverent, some ingenious.
For example, there is this gem from a character named Artie Choke: “The future's comin', and there's no place to hide!” But the wisdom from this show I want to share with you today is a statement by the main character, Clem who said: “I think we’re all bozos on this bus…”
It’s profound, theologically sound, and comforting to us as we bid our brother Jay farewell into the future he now knows and we can only trust. Here’s what I mean: we know that it is beyond our ability to comprehend God. What we can do is believe. We believe that the promises of God, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, are true, promises like: the love of God is steadfast and never ceases; and God does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone.
We grieve because we love. When a love we cherish – even a love that challenges us – is taken from us, we grieve, and we experience an emptiness like nothing else we’ve ever known.
Love is like that. It’s beautiful, complicated, challenging, exhilarating, and comforting – and when we lose someone we love, it’s devastating. It may sound strange, but that’s something to celebrate. We celebrate that we can know a love so true, that the loss of it devastates us.
So let your tears flow. They are living waters made of love.
Life will continually hand us opportunities to love and challenges to faithfully endure. Thankfully, we have God and one another to celebrate each love with and to accompany us through the challenges.
Most of us have lived long enough to know that the love of God who dwells in us guides us and heals us as we navigate the rough times we face. The comfort that provides is immeasurable.
Losing a love we cherish makes our Savior’s sacrifice for our salvation that much clearer to us. Our Good Shepherd willingly laid down his life for us. He suffered betrayal, an unjust trial, and an unfair execution – because he knew that the love of God could and would redeem the world – for all time and for all persons – through his sacrifice.
And it did – in the resurrection. Now we are people of the resurrection and our call is to love – to love God, and to love one another as Christ loved us.
Today, as we gather, we remember the love that walked the earth whom we knew as Jay. Jay was a gentle, humble man, whose life demonstrated what sacrificial love looks like. Jay was a generous giver of love – to his family, his community, and his philanthropic efforts. His love was often expressed in his music – which is where Jay’s worship and love of God were deeply experienced.
Like all of us, Jay had his struggles, but he was steadfast in his efforts to confront and deal with them. In the end, he succeeded, and manifested the truth we know about ourselves: we are all sinners of God’s own redeeming… or as Clem from Firesign Theatre would say, “we’re all bozos on this bus.”
And that’s OK, because the promises of God, which we believe, assure us that we don’t need to fear the future or hide from it. Because we believe that God is love, we see a future where there will be no hunger and no thirst; a future where the Lamb of God sits on his throne and shows us the way to the springs of the water of life; a future where God wipes away every tear from our eyes; a future where every love we’ve ever known greets us and welcomes us to the company of heaven.
Rest in peace, Jay. Glorify God with your music in heaven now, and hold us in your loving prayers until we meet again. Amen.
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